Ensuring Safety
With the spread of COVID-19 posing a significant threat to global health and with guidance from local, state, national, and international officials, Belmont Light offices will be closed to customers until further notice.
To the best of our ability we will keep normal customer billing processes going. Customer may notice slight changes from normal operations, including different billing service periods and billing dates and delays in autopay timing. We ask for your patience and understanding while we handle this unprecedented situation.
Please be advised that the information above and below is subject to change as the COVID-19 situation evolves. We will update this page and notify our customers as much as possible if further precautions are necessary to protect the health and safety of Belmont Light employees and the Belmont community as a whole.
What to Expect
- Billing:
- Customers with Smart Meters – We will attempt to keep regular billing cycles for Electric accounts to limit any effect on customers. If necessary, we may move billing to a delayed schedule, but your service period should remain similar to normal. For Water accounts, cycles will still be quarterly, and will be billed at the end of the month.
- Customers without Smart Meters– Electric/Water accounts may see a delay in billing as meters must be manually read.
- Payments:
- In general: To the best of our ability, we will process all payments in a timely manner. Please note there maybe delays in payment processing due to limited staffing.
- Online Payments: Customer can go online to make either a one-time payment or signup for our customer portal, SmartHub, to make payments, view their bills, check their usage, and get notifications. To access SmartHub, please click here or visit belmontlight.smarthub.coop. We encourage all our customers to sign up for SmartHub, as online payments automatically update our system in real time. There are no fees for online payments.
- Autopayments: We will continue processing autopayments on a regular basis, as close to the due date as possible. Please note that, during this time, we will be unable to process refunds for autopayments. If you believe there will be a problem with your autopayment due to the availability of funds, please visit SmartHub to update your autopay settings.
- Check payments: Checks may be mailed in or placed in the drop box outside of our 40 Prince Street location. Payment processing may be slower than normal, which could result in customers seeing past due charges on a new bill, even when they have actually made payment. We ask for your understanding should such a situation arise. We will make every effort to keep payment processing timely with limited staffing resources.
- Cash Payments: Belmont Light will not be accepting cash payments until further notice. Customer should not leave cash in the drop box, as we will not be able to provide a receipt. Any customer leaving cash in a drop box will be doing so at their own risk. We encourage any customer who regularly pays with cash to pay by check or use the online payment options outlined above.
- Collections:
- Late payment charges: Belmont Light is suspending all penalties and fees for late payment until further notice. Processing time for bills and payments may be slower during this period. Customers are still expected to make payments in a timely manner. Once operations return to normal, charges will be applied again.
- Shut offs: In accordance with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, Belmont Light will extend the moratorium on service shut offs until further notice.
- Energy Efficiency Programs:
- Energy Efficiency Rebates: Rebates will still be processed at this time, although customers can expect delays in processing times. We encourage you to utilize our online rebate portal by clicking here or visiting ee.ene.org.
- Home Energy Assessments: Home Energy Assessments are suspended until further notice. If you had an assessment scheduled through Energy New England, it will be rescheduled for a later date.
- Customer inquiries:
- Transfer of Service (moving in/out): Currently, staff will be available for processing move in/move out requests. If customer billing is suspended, we may ask that customers send in their requests to be processed and backdated at a later date.
- Renter “Showing ID”: Belmont Light is required by law to verify the identity of all customers opening a new account to prevent against identity thief. We require that all renters visit our offices and show a valid driver license or equivalent. We are suspending this process until further notice. When our customer service window reopens, we will resume the verification. Any customers who opens a new account during this period, will be asked to come in once we are accepting customer again.
- Final Bills: Belmont Light will continue to process final bills of sales of property for Water and Electric services. If you are a real estate agent requesting a final account reading or bill, you must have an authorized agent form prepared before the request will be fulfilled. We will be processing final bills once a week.
- Transfer of Service (moving in/out): Currently, staff will be available for processing move in/move out requests. If customer billing is suspended, we may ask that customers send in their requests to be processed and backdated at a later date.
- Downed wires/ Problems with streetlights: Please call (617-993-2800), email (customerservice@belmontlight.com), or visit our Service Map to place requests for service and our operations team will respond as soon as possible.
- How to/ Issues with SmartHub: Please call (617-993-2800) or email (customerservice@belmontlight.com) and our customer service team will respond as soon as possible.
- Issues with an account balance: Please call (617-993-2800) or email (customerservice@belmontlight.com) and our customer service team will respond as soon as possible.
- High bill concerns – We ask that customers with concerns around high bills, email customerservice@belmontlight.com with a detailed description of the concern. If email is not an option, we ask that you call and leave a voice message with your name, address, account number, and detailed description of the concern. At this time, we Will respond to high bill concern inquiries as quickly as possible, although customers can expect delays in response times.